Working with ‘invisible equines’

The Donkey Sanctuary hosted a four-day event at its base in Devon to bring together partner organisations that provide health care for “hidden” equines in parts of Europe.

The Donkey Sanctuary already provides care for, and training about, donkeys and mules in many parts of the world where these animals are used extensively to support human livelihoods, such as Kenya, Ethiopia, Egypt, Mexico and India.

In the UK, it provides sanctuary for donkeys and mules that are primarily companion animals, donkey-assisted therapy, and various education and training opportunities for carers and professionals.

In Europe, the situation is varied and rapidly changing. Some donkeys are in need of sanctuary, but many are still worked in agricultural communities in transition towards a more mechanised and urban lifestyle (Figure 1).

Donkeys may also be used for milk farming, which is a growing sector, and transported and used as meat animals. These donkeys and mules are often in trouble, and constitute a large part of the “invisible equine” population highlighted in a report (World Horse Welfare, 2015).

This report, essential reading for anyone concerned with equine welfare issues, tries to quantify equine populations throughout the European Union. For example, the UK mean equine population is given at about 796,000; Romania 728,000; Portugal 179,000; Greece 70,000 and Cyprus 7,000; with a total EU equine population of 6.99 million.

Valuable role

Invisible equines have a valuable role in the rural economy, especially in semi-substance farming. For example, in Romania, 80% of equines are involved in transporting people and goods, or in agriculture and forestry.

One concern is lack of access to services such as farriers, vets, equine dental technicians and others find it unattractive to work with these animals in remote locations. No service provision exists in many cases; in others, small charities do their best to provide health care to these donkeys and mules. Since 2009, the Donkey Sanctuary has provided grants to some of these organisations that have, so far, visited 898 villages and treated 6,894 animals. It also aims to reach more animals through education and training.

Similar challenges

The event, organised by European operations manager Andrew Judge and the author, brought together some of these organisations to learn from each other and plan the future direction of this work.

The first morning comprised presentations from Romania, where the Donkey Sanctuary works with Save the Dogs; Portugal, with the Associação para o Estudo e Protecção do Gado Asinino (AEPGA); Greece, with the Greek Animal Welfare Fund (GAWF); Crete, with Crete Animal Welfare; and Cyprus, where the sanctuary has a base.

The teams attending comprised a mixture of vets, farriers, an equine dentist and volunteers (Figure 2).

The similar issues faced by the teams was immediately striking. To name a few, they encounter obesity due to reduced workload, poor foot care, poor harnessing and saddle fit, hobbling and tethering injuries, lack of end of life care, and, often, ignorance of a donkey’s physiological and behavioural needs (Figures 3 and 4).

The demographics of donkey owners have changed in many areas. They are now in the care of elderly men and women who are linked to their past heritage and culture by the donkeys and mules that remain in the villages (Figure 5).

No easy answers exist to solving the problems, so the week drew on the skills of many in The Donkey Sanctuary, with the overall emphasis being on how interventions impact on welfare.

Handy tool

On the first afternoon, international department vet Kevin Brown explained how the hand assessment tool can be used to monitor groups and individual animals. This tool enables observers to rapidly detail – on a scale of one to five – important welfare indicators, including lameness, wounds, condition score, behaviour and illness/disease, while also incorporating information about the animal’s life circumstances and owners.

The group used the tool to assess a small group of donkeys and was gratified to find, in one case, behavioural changes linked to underlying foot pain could be reliably and easily noted.

Farriery and dentistry

Day two focused on the skills of farriery and dentistry, using The Donkey Sanctuary’s hospital and pathology unit, to provide examples of real-life cases and problems. The group discussed and practised farriery with farrier Matt Shearing, and had presentation and practical training from equine dental technicians Lee Gosden and Gemma Lilly.

The session aimed to share the teaching materials available and assess what level of support the teams may require in the future.

Principal vet Karen Rickard explained the complex pathways involved in the pathogenesis of obesity and endocrine-related laminitis, and management and treatment options. The importance of good dentistry is hard for owners to appreciate, as donkeys often maintain reasonable body condition in the face of appalling dental disease.

Community input

Day three began with Alex Mayers, of the sanctuary’s international department, demonstrating the role of community participation in solving welfare problems.

Alex works primarily outside Europe, but his skills in bringing groups together to collectively improve welfare and collaboration are highly valued.

This was followed by national schools coordinator Carl Wholey sharing his experiences of engaging primary school children in the UK in animal welfare and then, specifically, donkey welfare. Carl has developed some fantastic resources to share and download. All the partner organisations work in some way with groups of children as they are the future guardians of the equines, so this part of the day was extremely useful.

The afternoon was devoted to harnessing, correctly fitting packsaddles, and the relevance of this to donkey welfare and work efficiency. Trainer Chris Garret works extensively with donkeys internationally and has built a reputation for straightforward, easy-to-achieve solutions using local materials and people. The teams agreed this was an area where more input would be hugely beneficial in future.

Quality of life

The final morning addressed the difficult issue of assessing the quality of life in individual animals; often a major concern to the sanctuary.

Donkeys’ stoic nature means many chronically painful conditions go unnoticed, leading to poor end-of-life welfare. The session also looked at the problems surrounding euthanasia and carcase disposal in project areas.

Another area highlighted was the thorny issue of adhering to microchipping and passport regulations, and section IX of the passport (signing animals out of the human food chain). It was agreed the system was inadequate and lacked enforcement or practicality. Many “invisible” equines will not have any documentation and owners may be reluctant to adhere to complex bureaucracy (Figure 6).

Animal Action Greece presented experiences of changing mindsets and providing alternatives to tight hobbling that takes place on some Greek islands. In many cases, this example combined all of the event’s topics – community participation, educating children, tether design, the impact on lower limb and hoof function, welfare assessments and medicine use in remote village donkeys.

Summary

The summing up concluded sharing information is valuable and should be repeated, preferably at a location where outreach projects are in action. We also need to communicate effectively and work through problems together.

Planned welfare assessments will be used to audit the effectiveness of interventions, the location of future programmes and when a community is providing such good care charity intervention is no longer required.

These invisible equines are as deserving of care as any other equine, and are rewarding and challenging to deal with.